


Hours

by Nevcolleil



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: AU, Established Relationship, M/M, joe didn't adopt barry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2015-02-08
Packaged: 2018-03-11 00:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3309071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevcolleil/pseuds/Nevcolleil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thanks to his speed, visiting hours are whenever Barry has the opportunity to sip into the prison and into Leonard's bunk...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hours

Thanks to his speed, visiting hours - for Barry - are whenever he has the opportunity to zip inside the prison and into Leonard's bunk without being seen.

Whenever he has the opportunity and Leonard isn't in solitary confinement, that is (where there are a lot more cameras.) But now that the warden has learned not to try locking someone else into a cell with Leonard, those times are fewer and farther in-between.

Their nights together aren't easy. Barry has to time his entrances and exits just right - he can be through an open door before anyone can see him, but he can't walk through walls, or bars, once those doors are shut. They have to be careful not to be overheard by any of the guards. (The prisoners aren't a problem. If any of them have questions about the voices they sometimes hear, in the dark, coming from Leonard's bunk, they know better than to share them with him - or anybody else for that matter.) 

But Barry will take what he can get. Anything is better than being cut off from Leonard completely. Being unable to talk to him face to face, instead of over those tinny, plastic phones Barry can remember using to talk to his father when he was a kid. Being unable to touch him... To lie next to him, afterward, his head on Leonard's chest, listening to the steady beat of Leonard's heart... as Leo runs his fingers through Barry's hair or down Barry's side, chuckling at Barry's silent shivers when he finds a ticklish spot and worries it, until Barry is squirming and biting his lips not to protest.

Barry hasn't been without Leonard for any significant amount of time since they met in this very prison, visiting their dads from the same side of the plexiglass. Leonard even used to sneak into the foster home that housed Barry after Barry's mom died, so they could sleep together (long before Leo announced that Barry was "old enough" for them to _sleep together_.)

To be honest? Having Leo in here - in prison - in a _cage_ , like an _animal_ , is Barry's worst nightmare come true. He hadn't thought he could stand it, before the lightning, before he had powers; he'd almost done something stupid, something Leonard would have beat him for before he forgave him, just so they could be together again.

"You don't _ever_ try something like that again, do you understand?" Leo told him, when Barry confessed, voice hard and cold the way it usually is, actually - with everyone else - but never with Barry.

It still chokes Barry up to think about the real fear that had unleveled Leonard's voice as he said, "You think I _want_ you in here? You're the one thing I've got that the 'law' doesn't get to touch." Barry'd never heard Leo scared before.

It's why he hasn't brought up what his powers must mean to Leonard's time left in prison. Before, they were looking at _twenty years_ if Leo couldn't find his own way out - more if he loses it again, the way he had the day they told him that Barry was in a coma. (Most of Leonard's current sentence was added on after that, when he lost the possibility of parol.)

But now that Barry has seen what his powers can do- How they can help people... He hasn't told Leo much about that yet, but he knows Leo must think about how Barry's powers could help him. Barry thinks about it all the time.

It's like Leonard can sense Barry thinking about it.

He finally says so, the same night Barry has decided that he's not going to stall anymore - he's got to tell Leo that he's getting him out of here.

"I can practically feel you thinking, kid. Give it a rest," Leo says. And he must know what his next words will do to Barry because he presses a kiss to the top of Barry's head. "I told you, you don't get your hands dirty. I'll get myself out. It's bad enough I let you risk getting caught running in here to see me."

"I'm not gonna stop coming to see you," Barry says firmly, hands tightening reflexively on Leonard's waist, probably too tight, but Leo doesn't complain.

"Damn right you're not." In the dim light of Leonard's cell, Barry can see him smirk, but his grip on Barry is tight, too, and beneath the amusement in his voice, Barry can hear something else. Leo drops another kiss on Barry's lips. "Seeing you's the only thing that makes this fucking place liveable."

He slides a hand up to cup Barry's chin, tips Barry's head back so he can kiss him more deeply, and Barry opens easily, earning a satisfied hum when Leo assumes they've come to an agreement on the topic.

"I know patience isn't your strong suit," Leo says against his lips, in the dry tone that means he's teasing, "but if you can trust me, kid, and hold on.... I promise, I'll be home again before you know it."

Patience _isn't_ Barry's strong suit. He's never liked waiting for things. But waiting for Leonard is something different. Leo's the one person, since Barry's mom died, who's never treated Barry like he was invisible, or broken somehow, or some kind of freak. The only person who actually cares what happens to Barry. 

Leo doesn't just _let_ Barry be with him; he's sought out Barry's company from the very beginning, like _Barry's_ the one any guy would be lucky to have in his life. Skinny, nerdy Barry Allen, who bullies used to beat up just because he looked like he would take it. A murderer's kid.

Leo is tough enough that even people who've never heard of him before watch him carefully when he's around. He's hot, and smart in a useful way. People look up to him, do what he says, and he looks up to _Barry,_ like Barry's so much better than him, so much smarter.

He laughs anytime Barry tries telling him different. 

Barry can't just wait around and let him rot in prison. He _can't_. Staying at Leo's side, the way Leo's always stayed with him, has been Barry's one goal since he gave up trying to explain how his father could have murdered his mother.

People do terrible things to one another every day. Barry's seen plenty of proof of that since following Leo out onto the streets. 

What Barry hasn't seen is something like what he has with Leonard. He knows how lucky he is to get every moment they have together. And he's not going to waste any more than he has to.

"I'll wait a little longer," he negotiates, squirming but staying strong when Leo goes still. "But if you can't find another way soon-"

"I always find a way to get what I want, kid."

Anybody else might have taken the dark tone of Leonard's voice as a threat. Barry lets his lips curl and presses their bodies closer together. 

They've got forty-five minutes til the next guard change, and Barry doesn't plan to spend them arguing.

"Yeah, well, maybe you've rubbed off on me," Barry says.

It's slow to spread, but a smile does ease into Leo's mouth. Barry feels it as he kisses his way across Leonard's face.

"In that case... Central City better watch out," Leo says, stretching back on his bunk as if to say that he knows what Barry's doing... and he's only allowing Barry to distract him _for now_.

Luckily, Barry's fine with that. They can talk about this again the next time Barry visits.

"Yeah, it should," Barry tells him, and chases the vibration of Leonard's laughter across his chest as he maps the firm planes of it with his lips.


End file.
